Employment Agencies
(Registration) (Jersey) Law 1969[1]
A LAW to require the registration of
persons carrying on the business of an employment agency, to enable the
introduction of a code of conduct in respect thereof, and to provide for
matters connected therewith
Commencement [see endnotes]
1 Interpretation
(1) In this Law, unless the
context otherwise requires –
“employment agency” means the business, carried on with
a view to profit and whether or not carried on in conjunction with any other
business, of –
(a) providing
services (whether by the provision of information or otherwise) for the purpose
of finding workers employment with employers or of supplying employers with
workers for employment by them;
(b) supplying
persons in the employ of the person carrying on the business to act as office
staff or domestic staff; or
(c) providing
training for persons wishing to be employed as performers in the entertainment
industry or as models where the person by whom the business is carried on holds
out, as an inducement to persons to avail themselves of the training, a
prospect of the person’s being able to be of service to them in finding
employment as aforesaid with employers;[2]
“Minister” means the Minister for Social Security;
“prescribed” means prescribed by Order;
“registered” means registered under this Law.
(2) The reference in sub-paragraph (a)
of the definition of “employment agency” to providing services by
the provision of information does not include a reference –
(a) to
publishing a newspaper or other publication unless it is published wholly or
mainly for the purpose mentioned in that sub-paragraph; or
(b) to
the display by any person of advertisements on premises occupied by the person
otherwise than for the said purpose.
(3) The States may by Regulations
amend the definition of “employment agency” to restrict or extend
the types of business included in the definition.
2 Duty
to register
No person shall carry on an employment agency at any premises unless
the person is for the time being registered.
3 Applications
for, and grant and extent of, registration
(1) Subject to the
provisions of this Law, on an application in that behalf made by any person in
the prescribed manner and on payment of the prescribed fee, the Minister shall
register that person.
(2) Every registration
shall, unless previously cancelled, expire on 31st January next following the
day on which it takes effect.
4 Refusal
and revocation of registration
(1) The Minister may refuse
to grant an application for registration or, where registration has been
granted, may cancel the registration, if –
(a) the
applicant or the registered person has not, on the occasion of the application
or, as the case may be, at any time when requested to do so by the Minister
during the currency of the registration, furnished to the Minister such
information relating to himself or herself and to any circumstances likely to
affect his or her method of conducting business as may be required;
(b) the
applicant or the registered person or any person employed by, or associated
with, the applicant or that person for the purposes of his or her business, has
failed to comply with any provision of the code of conduct prescribed by Article 11;
(c) it
appears to the Minister that, by reason of the applicant or the registered person,
or any person employed by, or associated with, the applicant or that person for
the purposes of his or her business, having been convicted of an offence under
this Law or any Order made thereunder or having been convicted within the
Commonwealth of an offence, his or her conviction for which necessarily
involved a finding that he or she acted in any way indecently towards another person
or that he or she acted in such a way as to corrupt morals, the applicant or
the registered person is not or, as the case may be, is no longer, a fit and
proper person to be registered.
(2) Notwithstanding
anything in the foregoing provisions of this Article, the Minister may attach
such conditions as he or she thinks fit to the registration of any person and
may at any time vary such conditions.
5 Penalty
for failure to register or to comply with registration conditions
If any person –
(a) contravenes the
provisions of Article 2; or
(b) fails to comply with
any condition attached to the person’s registration,
the person shall for each offence be liable to imprisonment for a
term of one year and to a fine. [3]
6 Registration
certificates
Where the Minister registers any person the Minister shall issue to
that person a registration certificate, free of charge.
7 Display,
production and delivery of registration certificates
(1) Every registered person
shall –
(a) keep
his or her registration certificate displayed in a prominent position in the
premises on which the employment agency is carried on;
(b) when
required by or on behalf of the Minister to do so, produce or deliver his or
her registration certificate to the Minister or to an officer in an
administration of the States for which the Minister is assigned responsibility
who is authorized in that behalf;
(c) deliver
his or her registration certificate to the Minister immediately on expiration
of the period to which it relates.
(2) If any registered person
fails to comply with the provisions of this Article, he or she shall for each
offence be liable to a fine of level 2 on the standard scale.[4]
8 Procedure
and right of appeal on refusal or cancellation of registration etc.
(1) The Minister shall not
refuse an application for registration or cancel any registration, or attach or
vary any condition, unless the Minister has given to the applicant or the
registered person, as the case may be, not less than 7 days’ notice
in writing of his or her intention to do so and of his or her reasons for so
doing, and every such notice shall contain an intimation that, if within 7 days
after the receipt of the notice the applicant or the registered person informs
the Minister in writing that the applicant or registered person desires so to
do, the Minister will, before refusing the application, cancelling the
registration or attaching or varying the condition, give the applicant or
registered person an opportunity of being heard, in person or by a
representative.
(2) If the Minister, after
giving to the applicant or the registered person, as the case may be, an
opportunity of being heard, decides to refuse the application or to cancel the
registration or to attach or vary a condition, the Minister shall, if required
by the applicant or the registered person, deliver to the applicant or
registered person, within 7 days of the receipt of such requirement,
particulars in writing of the reasons for such refusal or cancellation or
attaching or variation of the condition.
(3) Any person aggrieved by
such refusal or cancellation, or by the conditions attached to the person’s
registration or by any variation of such conditions may appeal to the Inferior
Number of the Royal Court, either in term or in vacation, on the ground that
the decision of the Minister was unreasonable having regard to all the
circumstances of the case, and the decision of the Inferior Number of the Royal
Court shall be final and without further appeal, but without prejudice to the right
of the Inferior Number to refer the matter to the Superior Number of the Royal
Court.
(4) Where any person
appeals against the cancellation of the person’s registration or against
the variation of any conditions attached to the person’s registration under
Article 4(2), or, where the person’s original registration was
granted without any conditions attached thereto, against any subsequent
attaching of conditions, the registration shall not be cancelled or the
conditions varied or attached, as the case may be, until the appeal has been
determined or abandoned.
9 False
statements
Any person who, in furnishing any information for any of the
purposes of this Law or of any Order made thereunder, makes any statement which
to the person’s knowledge is false in a material particular, shall be
liable to imprisonment for a term of one year and to a fine. [5]
10 Inspection
(1) Any officer in an
administration of the States for which the Minister is assigned responsibility
shall be entitled, on production if so required of the officer’s
authority, to enter and inspect any premises on which a registered employment
agency is carried on, or any premises on which the officer has reason to
believe an employment agency is being carried on and to require the registered person
or the proprietor of the premises, or any person employed therein, to furnish
to the officer such information in relation to the employment agency or
premises as may be reasonably necessary for the purposes of the enforcement of
this Law or of any Order made thereunder.
(2) Any person who
obstructs or impedes an officer in the exercise of any of the powers conferred
on the officer under this Article or who fails or refuses to give to the
officer on demand any information which the officer is entitled to demand under
this Law, shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of one year and to a fine
of level 3 on the standard scale.[6]
11 Code
of conduct
The Minister may prescribe a code of conduct compliance with which
is, in the opinion of the Minister, in the best interests of any person
carrying on an employment agency, and of employers and employees generally.
12 Orders
(1) The Minister may by
Order make provision for the purpose of carrying this Law into effect and, in
particular but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, for
prescribing any matter which is to be prescribed under this Law.
(2) [7]
13 Service
of notices
(1) Any notice required by
this Law to be given to a person being a body corporate shall be duly given if
it is given to the secretary or clerk of the body corporate.
(2) Subject to the
provisions of this Article, any notice required by this Law to be given to any person
may be given –
(a) by
delivering it to that person;
(b) by
leaving it at the person’s proper address;
(c) by
registered post; or
(d) by
the recorded delivery service.
14 Offences
by managers, agents etc.
Where an offence for which a registered person is liable under this Law
has, in fact, been committed by some manager, agent, servant or other person,
the manager, agent, servant or other person, as well as the registered person,
shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be
prosecuted and punished accordingly.
15 Citation
This Law may be cited as the Employment Agencies (Registration)
(Jersey) Law 1969.